The Codes Revealed

This is a work of fiction. All characters and incidents are fictional.

Chapter five of the novel The Great Goddess

Please read from chapter one.

Both King Valeth and queen Avinya were waiting in the king’s chamber for Sandhya’s arrival.

Sandhya came at four hours past sunset. She carried something in her closed fist.

“What is it?…. Goddess” asked Valeth. He was not sure about the way he should address her.

Sandhya understood his confusion. She dropped the contents of her hand on to a table nearby. “Just call me Sandhya, that will be fine.”

There were seven rings, made out of seven metals, one for each class. Platinum for royal, gold for noble, silver for military, copper for scribe, aluminium for merchant, tin for peasant, iron for labour.

“Each one represents a class.” Sandhya explained. “These rings must be worn for a period of one lunar month by the seven chosen virgins. Then all of them should be melted together and made into a new medal which Avinya must place at its rightful place in the hall of rules. Valeth should also go with Avinya, it is your duty to assist and protect your wife.”

“Where is this hall of rules situated?” asked Avinya.

“To the north of the northern mountains, before that you should find the lady of the key. She resides in a place west of the Tanoshiya forest, once you reach there you can cross the northern mountains through the Bahl pass.” replied Sandhya.

“If we both leave, who will look after the kingdom?” asked Valeth.

“Your brother will take over before that. He and Srila is destined to be the last king and queen of Nihariya.” answered Sandhya.

“How could that be? My brother will not do anything that brings harm to me.” asked Valeth.

“Srila will convince him to do so.” replied Sandhya.

“Even if she convince him, won’t it be against the code?” asked Avinya.

“No, the code has nothing to do with succession. There is a lot of misunderstanding regarding the code, especially the code of ruby.

There were only two reasons for the royals to come up with the codes. One, to keep the system stable.

By keeping the system stable, there won’t be any trouble to their rule. Stability is achieved by fixing each class in its place in the class hierarchy.

By fixing the peasants in place, there will be a continuous supply of food.

By fixing the labours, the merchants will have a steady supply of human resource.

By fixing the merchants you have a continuous supply of resources. These three ensures a sound economy.

The fixing of military gives a continuous supply of soldiers, providing a perfect defence system.

Fixing the nobles provides an excellent administrative system.

Fixing the scribes gives a continuous supply of technicians for the administrators. Further to keep the government fixed all administrative and executive posts held by the nobles were made hereditary. The royals maintained close connections with those families.

To prevent the military and scribe consolidating power within families, those posts were made to be skill based, thus non hereditary.

But people can move away from the duties of their class in two ways, either by leaving the kingdom, which is prevented by the code of emerald or by moving to a different class, which is prevented by the code of sapphire.

Apart from that, the code of sapphire has a second purpose, to keep the royal class pure by not letting anyone from the lower classes marring into the royal class.

The other problem the royals had was safety. The royals are just five families, all the other classes had a larger number of people. Right from the beginning, the royals knew the other classes could take over power, the labour class, which had the largest population can take over by a popular revolution, the merchants can influence the government with money, the military can take over by the use of weapons. To prevent all these as well as to prevent clashes among the other classes which could lead to anarchy and instability, the royals came up with the code of ruby.

As you can see, these codes are made by the royals, for the royals, not for the people. So in the end of each code they added the clause “except royals”, which made the royals immune to the codes.

To further consolidate power, the royals included two more codes, which are not discussed much.

The code of pearl, which states that only the royals can practise magic. And the code of amber, which states that only the royals can mint coins.

Just having a few rules will not prevent people from doing what they want. So in a final move they locked the codes with the help of a higher power, the lord of war and the lady of wheat.

But today, just like the cosmic rules, the code too have changed. Mainly the code of ruby, many things unrelated to the code are associated with it.

One such law is the sub class hierarchy. Which makes the following hierarchy within the royal class. King first, then queen, their children, king’s parents, king’s siblings from elder to younger. Such structuring exists in all the classes but has got nothing to do with the code of ruby, it comes from a joint order made by the kings. The code of ruby treats all members of a class equally.

Similarly the law of royal and noble succession has nothing to do with the codes. All these laws could be changed by a joint order by the kings or by having a majority support of the assembly.” explained Sandhya.

“Assembly?” asked Valeth.

Sandhya continued her explanation. “Yes, as you know, the assembly is formed by members of the noble, military and scribe class, who hold government positions. Any member of the royal family can change laws made by the kings if they have secured the favour of the majority of the assembly. The code only prevents lower class members from taking power. Lower class members are free to support anyone in the upper class. They are also free to question anyone in the upper class. This law was made by the first kings of Nihariya, but no one has ever used it. Srila will be the first and last to use it. She will use it to change the law of succession.”

“What will happen to the kingdom after Srila’s rule?” Avinya asked with fear.

“Don’t worry nothing bad will happen. Nihariya will become a republic. Other kingdoms will follow in that path. With it the fourth age will properly take shape.” Sandhya clarified .

“How can that happen? Isn’t taking over power by the lower classes a direct violation of the code?” asked Avinya.

“Yes, but when you place the medal, the lords and ladies of nature will stop intervening in the politics of humans. So, even if it is a violation, there is no one to stop them.” said Sandhya.

“You didn’t tell anything about the seven virgins, who are they?” asked Avinya.

Sandhya listed down the seven virgins.

“Princess Vihani, daughter of king Urok from the city of Marahim, represents royal.